English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) is responsible
for funding child welfare in First Nations communities through a separate
arrangement known as the 1965 Indian Welfare Agreement and through the
First Nations Child and Family Services (FNCFS) Program which was created
in 1990
> > Ontario’s Child and Family Services Act requires children’s aid societies to
act in the best interests of the child, protect children and youth from abuse
and neglect and ensure their well-being. Ontario has enacted provisions and
established policies for Aboriginal child welfare agencies to provide services
for Aboriginal families on reserves under provincial law (e.g. Part X: Indian and
Native Child and Family Services, Child and Family Services Act).
For more information
about the Human Rights
Commission case, please
see Section Six.
A critical issue has arisen with respect to jurisdiction: “Native agencies are
bound by the same provincial child-welfare laws as their mainstream counterparts,
but must survive on far tighter budgets under a strict federal funding
formula that takes little account of provincial legislation” (Philp, 2002). In 2007,
the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child and Family Caring
Society of Canada filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights
Commission that discriminatory services violated human rights. This case is
currently undergoing a judicial review based on the Human Rights
Commission’s decision to dismiss the case. The current child welfare system in
Ontario includes:
> > Non-Aboriginal children aid societies (mandated service)
> > Aboriginal children aid societies (mandated service)
> > Aboriginal child welfare organizations under the Association of Native
Child and Family Services Agencies of Ontario (ANCFSAO) (includes
some of the Aboriginal CASs)
> > Aboriginal community organizations
To this day, child welfare jurisdiction is still not clearly defined, and some First
Nations contend that in the absence of specific federal legislation, the province has
no rights over their people.
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H. A HEALING PROCESS
First Nations, Métis and Inuit people describe the process that is required to
recover from the historical experiences as a healing process. As a result of the Royal
Commission on Aboriginal People, a number of recommendations were made about
healing. Many families are relearning their cultural heritage, including how to be
a proud Aboriginal person and parent — ​often called reclamation of what has been
lost during the residential schools and colonization. In 1998, the Aboriginal Healing
Foundation (AHF) was created to support this healing process in communities and
individuals. Its work describes a process that individuals and families need to go
through to recover from this history.